Because life is made up of the small things.

Monthly Archives: December 2010

I realize that I haven’t posted anything new for some time now – since the holidays are coming up, things have gotten a bit hectic. I was initially planning to post some pictures from a wedding I covered this month, but the post processing is taking too long, so here are instead some images from the recent Darren Criss – from the second season of Glee, to those who don’t know him – visit to Manila. Hope this can tide things over for awhile.

I used to do long exposure night photography in college, armed with a borrowed tripod and my trusty Minolta SLR. It’s been more than a year since I was blessed with the opportunity to own a DSLR of my own, but I only got around to shooting nightscapes again recently. A big shoutout is due to Raymond Cruz, Mike Mijares, Dave Villaruel and Jaime Alberto, who were with me during the shoot.

This was, literally, my only shot of the night. It was raining like crazy and we only had a short window of time before it started drizzling again. There were also some annoying security guards who accosted us at the Magallanes flyover – where this was taken. Apparently, it’s prohibited to take photographs in the area, but not for vagrants to spend the night there (which is potentially dangerous for themselves and others, but nevermind them, right? *end of rant*).

————

In other news, I’m one of the finalists for the photoblog category of the Philippine Blog Awards! I’m not really expecting to win, but I still consider this a great honor to be included in the list. Thank you, thank you, Lord.

I missed this year’s Higantes Festival in Angono, which is one of the few authentic festivals one can visit when you’re in Manila and don’t want to jump on a plane or take an hours-long trip to get there.

Where was I? Stuck working at the office, where else? Too bad, because it would have been great to shoot this festival again – which as far as I’m concerned, is never the same.

The Higantes is about as ‘loose’ (for lack for a proper word) as festivals go – I don’t think that the more publicized ones have drunken men and women parading the streets free to do anything except defecate or copulate in public. Still, it’s an experience in itself, all things considered, with the giant higantes paraded around that give the festival its name. Since its also a feast of St. John the Baptist, expect to get splashed by water – with varying degrees of cleanliness.

Tagging along with me was my SO, who showed considerable talent, despite it being her first time.

Itching to shoot anything, I recently attended a free workshop on portrait and fashion photography at the Collective, a sort of art deco shopping center in Makati. Here are a few shares from the photo shoot session that came after.

I don’t shoot portraits as much simply because I’m a bit uncomfortable making people pose – I’d much rather take candid photos. That’s not to say that formal portraits and fashion photography is bad in my book – there are actually a number of photographers like those whom I admire, such as Borj Meneses, Jay Tablante, and Jong Clemente.

In addition, I’m more predisposed to portrait sessions outside the controlled environment of a studio. More elements to play around with, more ways you can switch and change composition. I also have ZERO knowledge in lighting, which you need when you’re shooting portraits.

One caveat in portrait photography that many fail to appreciate though, is a model’s ability to project. Models (much like “photographers”) are a dime a dozen nowadays, but few can exude the feelings you need when they’re in front of the camera – regardless of how much skin they’re willing to show. Good thing April knew her stuff.